With the popular first fixture of the Suffolk Winter XC League season postponed until next year, due to the waterlogged state of the course at Framlingham Castle, many Newmarket Joggers found themselves taking it unexpectedly easy over the weekend. In fact, the only Jogger known to have completed a running race was Paul Holley, down under in Australia.
Above: Paul Holley riding a gallop at Werribee racecourse, possibly on the horse West Wind Blows (note: not in club colours :-). Above right, his parkrun result at Wyndham Vale later that morning. Many thanks for the photos.
Paul Holley, who has been working in Victoria, Australia for his Newmarket trainers Simon & Ed Crisford, had a busy Saturday morning. He first rode out early in the morning sunshine at Werribee racecourse (see photo), which served as a warm up for the nearby Wyndham Vale parkrun at 8:00am. There, he was first finisher of 129 participants overall, in a time of 18:25; first of 4 in his age group (55-59) by 8 minutes. Later in the evening, he headed for the Halloween Howler Half Marathon at You Yangs Regional Park, Victoria. Unfortunately, his Sat Nav was playing up and he was 25 minutes late arriving, but was allowed to start a long way behind the field. His chip time of 1:25:36 was the quickest recorded by 6 minutes but he didn’t manage to make the top three positions. Nevertheless, he was awarded a bottle of fine red wine as a prize for the fastest time and for being a thoroughly good ‘Pom’. They’re the best kind of trophies.
Above left: The night scene at the Halloween Howler, by Paul Holley; above right: Paul’s medal and prize for fastest time. Many thanks for the photos.
Paul Holley was a successful jockey over the flat and jumps and still rides out horses for trainers Simon & Ed Crisford in Newmarket. He is currently doing a stint at Werribee, in Victoria, Australia, where the stable has one of their best horses (4-year-old West Wind Blows) in residence. West Wind Blows has already won a lot of prize money by finishing 2nd in the Turnbull Stakes (2km, ~1m 2f) and Caulfield Cup (2.4km, ~1m 4f), two high class races in Victoria during October. However, he’s not aimed at the most famous and prestigious handicap race in Australia, which is the Melbourne Cup (3.2km, ~2 miles) on Tuesday, November 7th at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. That would be a little too far for him. He may go on to Dubai, Saudi Arabia or Hong Kong for further races.